Latest / District Territory / Is it time to believe in the Nationals?

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Is it time to believe in the Nationals? · District Territory

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Eric Shellhouse. Joining me today Spencer Nusbau of the Athletics.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Spencer.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: The Nationals coming off a terrific weekend series against the Padres,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: taking two out of three. After they dropped the first
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: game Friday, seven to five, they bounced back with a
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: win yesterday four to two, and a nine to four
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: victory on Saturday.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: How are you feeling this Monday morning.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: I'm feeling great. I'm probably not feeling better than any
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: of the twenty six players on the active roster right now.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: It's unbelievable to kind of process and see the vibes
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: in there, and you know, all have stories on this soon,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: but to see what they've done, taking series against three
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: postseason caliber teams in a row, to be over five hundred,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: to have a positive run differential at the start of June,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, there just aren't enough positive things to say
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: about this group. So, yeah, I'm doing pretty well, but
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I think they're doing even better.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a lot to talk about.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Zach Lttel capping off a
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: phenomenal May, how this offense has just been clicking how
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: stolen bases have to do with that, and really quickly,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I want to start with the fans off the field.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: You know you are what make this possible. I think
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: this is.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: In the seventh or eighth inning of Saturday Nights Contest,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: maybe the sixth inning, and then this is later on
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: in the eighth or ninth inning.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Just the growth of the.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Tarps off movement over the course of the game. Incredible
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: work to the men out in the right field bleachers,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: really quick. Sunday's recap the that's one, four to two.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Luis Garcia Junior got the party started. A booming home
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: run line drive off of the bat into the right
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: field bleachers gave the Nats a one to nothing lead
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in the bottom of fourth inning, and then James Wood,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: tacking on more as he often does, his sixteenth home
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: run of the season, gave the Nationals a three to
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: nothing lead. At the time, the Padres did rally back
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it's a three to two game. And then onto the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: seventh inning, Andres Chaparro Chappie drive him one down inside
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the third base line gave the Nats a much needed
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: insurance run at the time four to two, and Jacob
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Young Jacob young things to finish off the eighth inning
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: an incredible catch into the center field wall. Zach Lettel
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: was just phenomenal. Six innings pitched, five hits, allowed two runs,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: two walks, five strikeouts, Spencer. He just finished off an
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: incredible May after what was not a terrific April for him,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: something that he wanted to improve on, and he's certainly
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: proved that. But you've been talking to him, what have
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you noticed from him lately?
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So, Lettel is someone who's been really honest with
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: himself since his very first start with the Nationals, which
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: I believe was back in Philadelphia if I remember correctly.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: You know, again, came into the season with a shortened
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: off season. Clearly not everything was clicking mechanically, mentally especially,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: and he almost never made any excuses about it. One
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: of the biggest things that he talked about during that
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: like rough April was how much he knew he needed
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: to get back to the old version of himself, the
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: version who is okay throwing ninety one over the plate
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: as long as it's not over the heart, and the
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: version of himself who you know, knows how to sequence
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: better and doesn't doesn't need to try all these new
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: things in the world. Like I think Lttel came into
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: the season wanting to evolve as a pitcher, when in reality,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: like he's had a whatever, like a three eight ERA
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: over the last two years. Like the Nationals don't need
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: him to be anything different than that, And so he's
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: gone really fastball slider heavy over the last you know,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: a few weeks or so, and even more than that,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: if you don't care about pitch usage and you're just
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: kind of more of like a vibees guy. The vibes
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: are really high right now, Like he's confident on the mound.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: He's someone who and I think anyone who's played a
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: sport before can attest to this, like he's the guy
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: like holding team dinners and bringing the pitchers together, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: like those guys had his back throughout throughout the Rust
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Stretch and now he has theirs again throughout all this.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So for as much as baseball as an individual sport
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and pitching can feel like a solo endeavor at times,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: this does kind of speak to the team aspect of
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: it all, which I think is really cool and I
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: think hopefully what the Nationals kind of want to keep
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: going over the next few months or so. I don't
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: know if you've seen anything different or if you necessarily
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: think that this is going to persist in the same
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: way that it has throughout May. If maybe it's somewhere
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: in the middle ground. But I think at the very
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: least he's on the right track.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would concurr he's on the right track.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: What fired me up most about yesterday's start was I
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: believe it was the first time starting that he pitched
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: into the seventh inning. Now, of course, he finished the
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: game in Cleveland with the eighth and ninth inning a
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. You take a look at the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: stats from his last six starts, A two three five ERA,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: nineteen strikeouts and opponent sitting just two oh nine. If
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you look at his last six starts, not just coming
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: out of the bullpen, he's really settling into a nice groove.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, I would say that it is certainly
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: a sign of good things to come.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah. One of the one, one quick more thing I
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: would say on this. So I've talked about this a
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: little earlier in the year, how the Nationals have like
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: TVs and their clubhouse, and they'll every now and then
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: they'll put like pictures stats on there, whether it's like
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: how often they attack the zone, how often they do this,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: how often they do that. One of the ones they
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: put on there all the time is like kill percentage,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: So how often you get a whiff with two strikes?
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Lttel is still towards the bottom of that board, like
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: he's not he's missing a few more bats, but it's
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: it's not that it literally is just him getting ahead.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: And then you mentioned like the two oh nine batting
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: average against, like they just starn't hitting the ball very hard,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Like this is a good picture. His stuff is like
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: still if you look at any of the grating metrics
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: or whatever, like still towsunt of the league. He still
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: throws ninety one. But he knows how to pitch. And
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: I think that sometimes myself included, we we disregard that.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: And so it's been really cool to see him do
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: this over the last month or so.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just looking back at Sunday's contest, strikes out Gavin
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Sheets probably the Padres best hitter right now, twice gets
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Fernando Tatista bounce out very weekly to short twice in
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: a soft line out to center field, just like not
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a lot of hard contact off him right now, which
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: is really great to see it and hopefully assigning good
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: things to come.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Win or mind you really quickly.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: To subscribe to the podcast. You do not want to
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: miss our Eli Willitts giveaway and there are weekly giveaways
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: on Fridays. I have to contact today's winner later on
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and get that shipped out. Spencer also just wanted to
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: mention this to you really quickly. Phil and I did
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: predict the Nationals with win the World Series. I believe
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: this is back in twenty twenty four, a couple of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: years ago. But just your thoughts really quickly on that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: from the renowned scientist.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean clearly like he knows ball to a
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: certain extent. You know, he's he might be the most
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: famous Nationals fan, which is kind of wild. I would
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: have created him for predicting that.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Again, do I think they're winning the World Series this year?
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: I think I can go out on a lemon say
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: probably not. But you know, he he might know ball
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: more than I do, and that's fine. He's the science guys,
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I remember when he was at the Celebrity All Star
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Game in DC in twenty eighteen. He put on a
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: great show for the fans. Dude can swing a bat too,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: he knows how to play ball. A real quick look
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: at the National League East standings right now, the Nationals
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: trail the Braves by nine games.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Whoop do do?
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: The Braves are the best team in baseball, but the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Nationals are just one game back of the wild card
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: spot right now. Spencer, I know it's June first, but
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of fans online are asking me and asking
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: questions about the playoffs. What are your thoughts on that,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: because me personally, we both know it's June first, it's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: a little early to be thinking about playoffs.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: It is early. What I will say is this, I
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: am going to spend this week and I'll probably have
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: an article out on the Athletic about this, about the
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: sort of historical comp there might be for the Nats
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: in terms of maybe a team this young making the playoffs,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: or a team that lost as many games as it
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: did last year making the playoffs, or a team that
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: has allowed the most runs in baseball making the playoffs,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Like all of these things make it feel unlikely, And
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I still think it is highly unlikely. Can you rule
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: it out? No? But yeah, I think I want to
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: look into some of the historical comps first before I
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: say oh yeah, like they'll never do it or they'll
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: definitely do it. But at the very least, I think
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: we can appreciate what they're doing right now, which is playing,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: you know, two games above five hundred. I would slow
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: the roll a little bit on talks of October, but
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, we'll talk more about this later
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: in the.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Week certainly, And.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: You know Cap Cabali mentioned an exclusive interview I saw
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the other day, October is on our mind. So for
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the fans out there, the players are thinking about it.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Even if the people that talk about the Nationals every
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: single day aren't talking about it, it's on the players
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: forefront of their minds.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Really quickly.
• 9:05
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• 9:07
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• 9:38
  Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and go out on a limb here
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and say Dylan Lyle will be my pick for dinger
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the day later on today. He had some hard outs
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: yesterday against the Padres. There's nothing seemed to fall, So
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: he's gonna be the guy I'm rocking with today. But
• 9:51
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• 9:53
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• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know again that the line episode deep
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: right now that there doesn't feel like a bad pick.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: I'll go with Curtis Mead. He has been I don't
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: know if he's been the National's third best hitter this year,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: but he might be. He's gotten ops in the eight hundred.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: It seems like every single game he does something of
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: note offensively. Yesterday was actually probably the first time where
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: he didn't and he made out for it with his club.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I really like what I've seen out of
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: him recently, and you know, he's he's probably the top
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: right handed bat in the lineup right now, I can
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: say confidently, so yeah, I'd roll with Mead. But again
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: there it doesn't feel like there's a bad pick on
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: this team right now, which is bizarre to say.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Alrighty, we are back, Spencer. Want to talk about soule
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and bases, but really quickly, do you want to give some.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Credit to Saturday's victory?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: The Nationals won nine to four and the Padres came
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: out bop it. We talk about it with Brandy's time
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to time. How solo home runs aren't going to kill you? Well,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the Padres hit three of them on Saturday, but it
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: did not kill the Nationals. Drew Millis responded very quickly
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: in the bottom of the second inning to Exander Boguard's
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: home run tied it up one to one. But then
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Manny Machado off of the foul pole into the left
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: field corner, just hooking, hooking and staying fair. That was
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: his tenth of the season, gave them a two to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: one lead, and then Fernando his first of the season
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in the top of the fifth inning. This one went
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a whopping four hundred fifty one feet off of the bat,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and he enjoyed it. He certainly enjoyed it. But in
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the seventh inning, things got funky on
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: an interesting play, Dylan Cruz going in with an aggressive
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: breakout slide into second base and break it up. He did,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: and he even beat the throw it was safe. The
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Nationals took a four to three lead on the play,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and then Luis Garcia Junior getting the job done six
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: to three lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: That was really the blow that felt like the final one.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: But this was something we've seen many times from this
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: team this season. Something we weren't accustomed to seeing in
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the past, Spencer, but it really just feels like they're
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: never out of the game, late in the inning, late
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in the game, no.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Matter who they're facing.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, Friday night, I got to give a shout
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: out to Louis bases loaded against Mason Miller. I was
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: in the left field bleachers. I thought it was over
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: his head. I thought we had a Grand Slam, we
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: were gonna win that game. But in the bullpen, like
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: there's no one that comes better than San Diego.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And to see the Nats rally late like that really exciting.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is a team where again like the
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Boys Battled was like the phrase that was used again
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and again in the past. What's different this year is
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: it just feels like there's a level of confidence with
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: this team that we maybe haven't seen in the past.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: And they've talked about this too, where you come in
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: as a young team, you've played well in stretches before,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: but you haven't nationally gone into every game expecting to win.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: You haven't. You just haven't proven much in the league.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: You don't have that track record. I think they saw
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: what they did in April and for as imperfect as
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: it looked at times, especially defensively and on the pitching side.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: The hitters knew that it was sustainable, even if it
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: was just a month of games. And what you're seeing
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: now is, hey, they know how to make adjustments in
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: the dugout, they know how to talk things through, and
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: they know more than that, like, yeah, throw Mason Miller
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: up there, Like, sure the Nationals didn't win that game,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: but Louis knows how to hit fastballs like Mabe. It's
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: a little more complicated than that, but in that moment,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: like James knows how to take his walks, he took
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: one of those. Like these are all guys who at
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: this point know who they are, and it's really fun
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: to see. At this point they're refining small details as
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: opposed to building the foundation, which is not something I
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: think either of us necessarily expected to be saying on
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: June first, maybe June first of twenty twenty seven, but
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: not right now.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: One hundred and ten percent. I was sitting next to
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a season Nats fan, a season bet up there when
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Louis was stepping up to the plate, and we're both
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: chatting like this is the guy like you want on
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the Nats coming up right now for Mason Miller. As
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you just said, Spencer, this guy knows how to hit fastballs, like,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: let him just flick one or better yet, maybe shoot
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: it over the left fielder's head. Alas that was not
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the case on Friday. But to see them be resilient,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I can use the word scrappy.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna slip it.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Out while Franny's not around, but you know they were
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: scrappy this weekend. Get two of three and now they
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: welcome the Marlins, who just got swept by the Mets.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: They've lost five in a row. But before are we
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: diving it out really quickly? Stolen bases and speed kills
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: was a huge part of this series in San Diego.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Bringing up a graphic for our viewers online right now.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: If you're looking at it from left to right, at
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the bottom, that's how many stolen base attempts you have.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: You're looking at it from bottom to the top, that's
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: your success rate, how efficient you are. So there's a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: couple of ways you could grade people off of here.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: But if you're looking at the Marlins, they are the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: furthest to the right. The Nationals are the first team
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: you're going to meet if you're coming from the top
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: right and you're just trying to get to the middle.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: The two teams that are very efficient at when they
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: choose to steal bases and then also actually stealing the base.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what's fun about this series, and I
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: was actually talking with one of the Marlins reporters last
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: time I was down there is the fact that it
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: doesn't always look clean because generally fans will pay more
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: attention to whether you're thrown out as opposed to whether
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: you successfully steal a bag. And I think at these
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: teams too, like in it was twenty twenty four with
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: the Nats and twenty twenty five with the Marlins where
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: you saw the like explosion of stolen bases, but their
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: numbers at the end of the year, in terms of
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: their efficacy on it, like wasn't all that good. This year,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: it feels like both teams are kind of putting it
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: together a little more. I think also in base running value,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: they're both in the top three. You know, two young
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: teams that are aggressive on the bases, that are increasingly
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: getting smarter on the bases. And I think that while
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: you don't necessarily think of the Nationals and Marlins as
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: two teams where like the little things are going to
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: define whether or not they win games. At this point,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I think that that very well could be the case
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: in the upcoming series, you know. And then the defensive
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: backstops is we were talking about a little bit before
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: we got on air, like that also kind of adds
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: a wrinkler an element into this as well.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was just going to kind of
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: go into from there.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Was cavor Rui's two caught stealings yesterday, one to end
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Strike him out, throw them out. We've spoken about how much.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Pride he takes in his defense on this show before,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: but it's really starting to come out over the course
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: of the weekend. And then to see the bat at
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the same time, starting to wonder, Hey, that this guy
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't need a hit a ninth anymore with that juice
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: with the pop, like, come on, move them up, let's
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: get those ribbies in. But yeah, I'm just so happy
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: for Key and Millie at the same time seeing him
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: getting in on the act with the second home run
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: on Saturday. They just really really controlled the run game
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: over the course of the weekend, and at the same
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: time kind of embarrassed the Padres, I feel like in
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: a sense, I mean.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: They were just running like thieves all over them.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and so I've given a lot of credit to
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Kber over the last couple of weeks, and deservedly. So
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: one other group that deserves credit here, I guess two.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: One is Bobby Wilson, obviously the Nationals catching coach. But
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: the second is there pitchers who have done a much
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: better job controlling the run game. One of the I
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: can't remember who one of them had to pick off recently.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: But even more than that, they're getting quicker to the
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: plate than they've been in the past when guys are
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: on first base, and I think, you know, Cabras pop
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: time is about the same as it was last year.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: But we when you look at how efficiently these guys
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: are are getting too home, like that's what when you
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: see the strike them out through them at double plays, like,
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: that's where that comes from.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: So it's been super impressive to watch. Yeah, I was
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: trying to check to see who had the pick off
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: the other day.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I use the word cohesive and how it
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: just seems like they're one team and one player right now.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: But for a battery if you're a ballplayer or former ballplayer,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: you know how important that is. And I wish we
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: had Franny right now to be attesting to that, how
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: important the pitching and catching relationship is.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: And guys like who.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: They're throwing to and have confidence in who they're throwing
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to in the game that the coaches are calling.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: So on and so forth.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: As I mentioned, the Marlins into town before the Nationals
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: get another much needed off day on Thursday, and then
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: had out west to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and then the Giants after that. But it's the Marlins today,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Spencer Sandy al Kintar on the bump for them, Crafty
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Cade Kabali on the bump for the Nationals. This is
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: going to be a pitcher's duel later on.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly feels like it, right with Kate especially.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: And it's tough for me to say this because I'd
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: like to think that I've had a fair assessment of
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: everyone this year. But I came into the season that's
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: such high expectations of Caid and his first like three
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: or four starts were fine, but weren't necessary. He didn't
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: necessarily look like an ace. I think it is fair
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: to say, and so sometimes that affect lingers where like
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: even as I watched these other starts, I'm like, maybe
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: waiting for the other shoe to drop. No, he's been
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: so dominant for so long now. Again, as we've talked
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: about time and time again, understands that he can throw
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: pitches in the zone and if guys swing, good things
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: will happen. It's either week contact or more often than not,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: a whiff or guys get caught looking. So yeah, really
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: really impressed with with what he's been. I don't necessarily
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: know yet whether he'll be an All Star just because
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: of how many like star pitchers are in the National League.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure if you looked at the young race recently,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: but it's it's absurd but.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And not be Paul Skins for the first time in
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: a couple of years.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, if he does in
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: June what he did in May, I mean, I think
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: it's fair to have the conversation. But even beyond that,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: he's giving the team a chance to win every time
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: he goes out there. He is kind of the set
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: it and forget it guy at the moment, alongside Foster Griffin,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: which is again exactly what the Nationals need after that
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: that rough month of April.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I don't have much more to add here, Censer. We're
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: going to be over at the ballpark later today, be
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: back on air Wednesday and Friday.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I want to shout out Michael mc if.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: You're still listening, you are the winner of the Barry
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Bonds bobblehead from Friday's episodes, So congrats. I'll be sending
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: that out to you later today. Might be more like
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: a tomorrow thing. Whenever you get back to the email,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll get that sent out for you. But
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: we'll have another giveaway on Friday. Spencer, you got anything
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: else you want to toss them before you head out?
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I got nothing, just yeah. Keep reading the Athletic. I
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: guess it's my daily plug.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, keep reading the Athletic, keep following the Nationals.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Head over to the ballpark and support the boys if
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: you're in town, because they deserve it. And the Marlins
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: have lost five in a row, so let's keep patting
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: up the wins here, keep stacking them up and to
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the Marlins. Maybe if I'm speaking to any of you
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: later today, turn it around, guys, you know you got this, but.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Until then, we will be back on Wednesday and Friday.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: See you later.